Army Maj. Kevin M. Jenrette

Remember Our Heroes

Army Maj. Kevin M. Jenrette, 37, of Lula, Ga.

Major Jenrette was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 108th Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard, Calhoun, Ga.; died June 4, 2009 near Kapisa, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. Also killed were Sgt. 1st Class John C. Beale and Spc. Jeffrey W. Jordan.

LULA - Georgia Army National Guard Maj. Kevin Michael Jenrette came home for the final time Saturday to Timber Ridge in North Hall County and an entire community came to say goodbye.

The Major’s funeral was a combination of the modern and the historic.

A horse-drawn caisson provided by the Hall County Sheriff’s Department carried his flag-draped casket to the gravesite across the road from the church.
Overhead, Army helicopters performed the Missing Man formation and a Sheriff’s bag piper played “Coming Home” and “Amazing Grace.”

Soldiers in dress blue fired a 21-gun salute and then a bugler sounded the age-old salute to the fallen, 'Taps.'

The Rev. Dean Bryant, a former pastor at Timber Ridge Baptist Church, married Jenrette and his wife ten years ago; he officiated the funeral with Rev. Anthony Cook.

Rev. Bryant chose a verse from the Old Testament to describe the soldier who died far away from Hall County in Afghanistan earlier this month when he suffered wounds from a hidden explosive device and small arms fire.

“David said there is a prince and a great and good man fallen this day in Israel,” the pastor said. “And he was a great and a good man.”

“He loved freedom and wanted everybody to be free and have a free nation like he’s come up under,” he added.

Two other National Guardsmen, Staff Sgt. John C. Beale of Riverdale and Spc. Jeffrey W. Jordan of Cave Spring, also perished in the attack.

The Patriot Guard, largely composed of military veterans, many of them riding escort on motorcycles, attended the service along with Army officers, friends, family and many well-wishers.

Countless American flags lined Old Cornelia Hwy., Hwy. 52, and Timber Ridge Rd. on the way to the church.

Long-time Timber Ridge resident Becky Latty and her nine year old grandson, John Conner Winfree, stood on the roadside with dozens of other people holding flags

Army Maj. Kevin M. Jenrette was killed in action on 6/4/09.